Chapter 2 Flashcards
Offred’s room description
Barriers against suicide
‘Picture’ ‘framed’ ‘no glass’
‘White’
‘Window’ ‘opens only partly’
‘Flowers’
Indications of the regime under which she’s living
Description
Suicide - oppression
‘Think of it as being in the army’
‘Red gloves’
‘White wings’ - can’t hear
Hears commanders wife ‘pacing’ -> ‘cave’
‘Dining room’ ‘Rita’
‘Talk about aches’
‘Gossip’
‘Help Rita…make…bread’
‘Take the tokens’…’eggs’
Offred’s views on her current situation
‘This could be a college background’
‘The circumstances have been reduced; for those of us who still have circumstances’
‘Why temp her to friendship’
Aunt Lydia told her to be grateful
Offred goes downstairs
Details of her appearance and their significance
‘Red glove’
‘White wings’ ‘keep us from seeing, but also from being seen’
‘Colour of blood’ -> passion, anger, danger, child birth
‘Skirt is ankle-length, full, fathered to a fiat yoke that extends over the breasts’
Descriptions of the house
‘Polished hallway’
‘Front staircase’
‘Running down the centre, dusky pink… carpet for royalty’
‘Hat and umbrella stand’
What we learn of the commander and his wife
Wife ‘sometimes I hear pacing’ - not at ease
‘Blue umbrella’ - melancholy, cold, Virgin Mary
‘Cane’ -> disability, superior
Commander - ‘real coffee’ ‘tell them who it’s for and they won’t mess around’ - superior
‘Black umbrella’ - absolute, power, evil
Section 3
Kitchen - centre of house
Dividing women so can’t rule
What we learn about Cora
Cleaner - lower status
Defends handmaids ‘Nobody’s asking you’
‘Cora was more pleasant to me than usual’
Passive
What we learn about Rita
Disapproves
‘They have the choice’
‘Better her than me’
‘closed face’ ‘pressed lips’
The role of the Martha’s
‘Listen at doors’
‘Gossip’
Atwood passive voice
‘flowers are still allowed’
Flowers under threat
Emphasises how much is not allowed
